Ground-penetrating radar and geomagnetic surveys at Göbekli Tepe mapped at least 16 additional buried megalith rings across 22 acres, while the excavated area covers only about one acre, less than 5 percent of the site.
Notes on verification
Core claim about geophysical surveys revealing at least 16 additional buried megalith rings is well corroborated by independent archaeological sources (DAI Tepe Telegrams, Documenta Praehistorica citing Schmidt 2011, arXiv paper). The specific acreage figures (22 acres, 1 acre excavated, <5%) are harder to independently verify and appear largely derived from the Smithsonian article, so confidence is medium rather than high. [tier=gold indep_score=0.867 clusters=3 claim_tier=notable]
Sources
- Gobekli Tepe: The World's First Temple? - Smithsonian Magazine (seed:history_and_archaeology)
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/1103.5600 (corroboration)
- https://www.dainst.blog/the-tepe-telegrams/2018/07/18/looking-beneath-the-surface-geophysical-surveys-at-gobekli-tepe/ (corroboration)
- https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Plan-of-excavations-and-geophysical-surveys-at-Goebekli-Tepe-graphics-T-Goetzelt-c-DAI_fig3_235799794 (corroboration)